Looking at the risks of mainstreaming kids

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, March 3, 1999

1999-03-03 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Parents and child advocates welcome a proposal by San Francisco schools chief Bill Rojas to move thousands of kids with learning difficulties into mainstream classes, but doubt the district can make such an untried program work.

A day after Rojas announced a "difficult and drastic" plan to move as many special education children as possible into mainstream classrooms within two years, a consensus was emerging: Full inclusion is a great concept but a major challenge fraught with risk.

The most common fear among parents and educators is that learning-impaired kids will be plunked down in classrooms with teachers unprepared to handle their needs.

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"Philosophically, I support inclusion 1,000 percent," said Pat Mejia, whose 12-year-old daughter Nina is deaf and has an array of learning disabilities. "On the other hand, I know from years of experience that general education teachers are not trained to work with kids like Nina.

"She's a really neat kid, and she's bright," Mejia continued. "But teachers who haven't been trained aren't able to tap into her brightness. All they see when they look at her is a disability."

There are nearly 7,000 children in The City's public schools with learning difficulties ranging from cerebral palsy and autism to dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Fewer than 300 such kids are now in general education classrooms.

If San Francisco Unified succeeds in moving special needs kids into general classrooms - and providing teachers with necessary training and support - it would be the only urban district in California to do so, according to Jo Ann Yee, executive director of the Association of California Urban School Districts.

In doing so, though, San Francisco is joining a controversial national movement that aims to see disabled children educated alongside nondisabled children.

Of the nation's 5.17 million children with special needs, about 36 percent were in regular classes at least 80 percent of the time, 34 percent spent most of their time in segregated rooms where they get one-on-one help, and 24 percent were in special education classrooms all of the time, according to a 1992 study by the U.S. Department of Education.

The nation's major teachers' union, the American Federation of Teachers, has come out against inclusion and has called for a moratorium on such programs. The AFT asserts that children with learning difficulties don't get the attention they deserve in regular classrooms and that nondisabled kids also suffer.

The San Francisco teachers' union supports Rojas' concept of including more special education kids in mainstream classes. To make it work, however, the district must provide educators with training and qualified classroom aides, said teachers' union President Kent Mitchell.

The proposed change is part of an exhaustive plan that has been in the works for months and seeks to overhaul San Francisco's special education program. The report, released Monday, comes at a time when the district is under fire for its handling of special education students.

A recent investigation by the state Department of Education found problems in San Francisco's special education program, which costs $66 million annually.

"I applaud Rojas' vision, but this will require an incredible amount of training and an incredible shift from where San Francisco is now," said Carlo Rossi, a lecturer in S.F. State's special education department.

Rossi, an advocate with the nonprofit Community Alliance for Special Education, added, "Federal law provides for a continuum of options which includes everything from mainstreaming in general education to special day classes. So the district will have to continue to place students based on individual needs."

Parent Pat Mejia says that what works for one learning disabled child won't necessarily work for another child. Her daughter, Nina, a sixth-grader at Presidio Middle School, spends 75 percent of her day in special classes and the remainder in regular classes.

"I wanted Nina in a special day class for deaf kids," Mejia said. "Other parents of deaf children might chose mainstream classes. The challenge of inclusion is to maintain individualized options."

Another parent, whose child attends San Francisco Community school, says said teachers who lack special training simply cannot understand the complex needs of learning disabled children.

"You might have a teacher who's sympathetic, but that doesn't mean the teacher knows what's needed to create a successful program for your child," said Linda Gossage, whose daughter has a variety of learning difficulties, including short-term memory loss.